The Persistence of Sinat Hinam (Baseless Hatred)

Last updated on: July 23, 2020 at 3:02 pm By Hebrew College

Parashat Devarim (Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22) and Tisha B’Av By Rabbi Jim Morgan | July 25, 2020 Alas, she has become a harlot, The faithful city that was filled with justice, Where righteousness dwelt—but now murderers. (Isaiah 1:21; JPS) Every year, we read Parashat D’varim as we approach Tisha B’Av, the saddest day of our liturgical calendar and the one on which we are reminded that our Temple—the symbol of our unity and our access to God’s presence—was destroyed on account of our baseless hatred for... Read more

Mapping our Stories in Fits and Starts

Last updated on: July 21, 2020 at 5:59 pm By Hebrew College

Parashat Matot-Masei (Numbers 30:2–36:13) By Rabbi Becky Silverstein | July 18, 2020 If you have driven through or near South Dakota, you have probably seen the billboards for Wall Drug: “Free ice water! Five-cent Coffee!” Wall, South Dakota, was established as a railroad station for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, a link on the chain of railroad connecting the country, a system that my spouse Naomi’s family helped build. Founded in 1931, Wall Drug originally used the promise of free ice water as a... Read more

From Fast to Festivity: a Zoom Mitzvah in the Narrow Straits

Last updated on: July 8, 2020 at 12:35 pm By Hebrew College

Parashat Pinchas (Numbers 25:10 – 30:1) By Cantor Ken Richmond July 11, 2020 About six weeks ago, finally facing the reality that our son Zalmen’s bar mitzvah – scheduled for Labor Day weekend – would not be able to take place as we had imagined, we decided to move it up to his Hebrew birthday. He was born on the 17th of Tammuz, a fast day in the Jewish calendar that commemorates lamentable events in Jewish history, including the smashing of... Read more

Deep in the Wilderness

Last updated on: June 29, 2020 at 12:39 pm By Hebrew College

Parashat Chukat (Numbers 19:1-22:1) By Rabbi Adina Allen Jun 29, 2020 We encounter the Israelites in the midst of their 40 years of wandering in the desert, in a moment of intense difficulty. They are tired. They’re scared. They rail against Moses and Aaron, demanding, yet again, what they remember as the comforts of Egypt, “Why have you taken us out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place; it is not a place for seeds, or for fig trees,... Read more

Making the Twisted Thing Straight Again

Last updated on: June 22, 2020 at 3:11 pm By Hebrew College

Parashat Korach (Numbers 16:1-18:32) By Rabbi Daniel Klein The Book of Ecclesiastes says, “A twisted thing that cannot be made straight, A lack that cannot be made good” (Ecclesiastes 1:15). If we were looking for people who exemplify this teaching, surely the Israelites in the wilderness would be good candidates. Yet again in this week’s parasha, Korach, we see confirmation of them as a “stiff necked people” (Exodus 32:9), the appellation God gives them after their stunning apostasy in making... Read more

Humility, the Virtuous Source of Sin

Last updated on: June 16, 2020 at 1:05 pm By Hebrew College

Parashat Shelach (Numbers 13:1-15:41) By Rabbi Michael Rosenberg There are crucial moments in every story, turning points at which the direction of the narrative shifts in irrevocable ways, determining how the tale must end. Such is the moment in which we found ourselves in this week’s Torah reading, Parshat Shelah. God tells Moses to send a reconnaissance mission to scout out the Land of Israel. When they return, these advance troops report on the land’s beauty, but they also tell of... Read more

PsalmSeason: A Playlist for a Time of Upheaval

Last updated on: June 10, 2020 at 12:38 pm By Hebrew College

By Rabbi Or Rose and Rev. Paul Roseraushenbush “Listen to my words, YHWH, consider my lament. Hear my cry for help…” (Psalm 5:1-2) We are living in a time of widespread illness, ongoing racism, and deep fear and division. People throughout the world are crying out, raising their voices in protest and lament, seeking hope and solace. Our voices echo those over the millennia who have called out in every generation, turning to their spiritual traditions for guidance and inspiration.... Read more

It Is Upon Us to Complete the Torah

Last updated on: June 8, 2020 at 11:57 am By Hebrew College

Parashat Beha’alotecha (Numbers 8:1-12:16) By Rabbi Brian Besser Edmund Fleg captures the central notion of tikkun olam (“repair of the world”) that drives social change with this declaration: “I am a Jew, because for Israel, the world is not yet completed; we are completing it.” According to Midrash, Torah is the blueprint of all creation. If God left the work of creation incomplete, does that imply that its underlying Torah, as well, is incomplete? The question is more than academic.... Read more

Hidden are the things we see

Last updated on: May 27, 2020 at 8:15 am By Hebrew College

Shavuot 5780 By Rabbi Michael Shire Looking out the window, I see cardinals and robins, rabbits and squirrels, blue empty skies—in the last two months of isolation, I have come to notice my beautiful environment more than ever before. In this hidden-away state, more has been revealed to me than I experienced when I was outside hurrying to the places I needed to go. This has been a revelation to me. Hidden away from the melee of the world, I... Read more

Safety in Numbers

Last updated on: May 20, 2020 at 11:52 am By Hebrew College

Parashat B’midbar (Numbers 1:1-4:20) By Rabbi Minna Bromberg `10 Numbers. It says it right there in the English name for the book of Torah that we begin reading this week: this book is about numbers. What does it mean for this suddenly free people to be numbered? Can we be truly free if we are constrained by being one in a number? Yet can we have a functioning society without making an accounting of... Read more